Springfield Armor back home for matchup with Maine Red Claws

File photo | The RepublicanL.D. Williams and the Armor look to improve to 4-0 against the Maine Red Claws when the teams meet Saturday at the MassMutual Center.

SPRINGFIELD – It did not take long for Preston Knowles to make his presence felt in the Springfield Armor lineup.

The University of Louisville product, in just his second game in an Armor uniform, hit the game-winning shot Thursday night in Springfield’s 100-99 win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers at the NBA Development League Showcase in Reno, Nev.

With little time to rest after flying across the country Friday, the Armor are back home Saturday for a meeting with the Maine Red Claws at the MassMutual Center.

Knowles, signed last weekend after Travis Cohn was released, was a college teammate of Armor guard Jerry Smith for three seasons.

With just 5.9 seconds left in Thursday’s game and the Armor trailing by two points, Knowles hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to give the Armor a split at the Showcase.

“We were running a play for JamesOn (Curry) to penetrate and we were down two at the time, so what we did was we ran a play to have him come off a double ball screen and we tried to give him options,” Armor coach Bob MacKinnon said. “One of them was Damian Johnson rolling to the basket and we tried to put 3-point shooters around him in Preston, Jerry and L.D. (Williams) so that he’d have options to go to if he didn’t feel comfortable enough to take the shot. I thought he did a great job recognizing the open man.”

In two games with the Armor, Knowles is averaging 10 points in just 12½ minutes of court time. Both Knowles and Johnson, who has played four games with the Armor, had their best games of the season Thursday.

Knowles finished with 14 points and Johnson, who has been a strong defensive presence since being acquired earlier this month, had a season-high 18.

The win brought the Armor back to .500 at 9-9, good enough for a tie for second place in the East Conference despite having played 10 of 18 games away from home. The longest home stand for the Armor has been two games.

“Not to belabor the point, but being on the road as much as we’ve been takes a lot out of you,” MacKinnon said. “You’re packing and re-packing, catching flights and sleeping in different beds all the time. It just makes you mentally weary sometimes.

“We won’t get into our houses until 11:30 tonight,” MacKinnon said Friday. “We play tomorrow and then we pack and leave again right after the game for a game Sunday.”

Both games this weekend are against Maine, the Sunday game in Portland. While the Armor have won the previous three meetings with the Red Claws, MacKinnon said you can’t read too much into that.

“I’d throw that record out right now because it’s a totally different Maine team and we’re different,” MacKinnon said. “We might have played Maine B before, but now it’s Maine A. I think Saturday night’s going to be a heck of a game.”